We are... not allowed to keep a dog as a pet, since it is not a very clean animal. How often have you come across the nasty sight of dogs taken for a walk licking their own excrement? Isn’t it disgusting to see their owners kissing the mouth of such animals after such incidents as if nothing happened? Would you kiss the mouth of your own baby if he were to do the same? Think how many parasites and microbes may be hiding in their mouths.

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) has spared us from being contaminated by such filth when he ordered us to stay clear of the saliva of dogs. If we ever come into contact with a dog’s saliva we must wash the spot seven times, the first of which should be with sand or dirt. It is also possible to use a bacterial soap instead of sand or dirt.

In conclusion: Don’t contemplate taking a dog home as a pet. If, however, you do need to keep a dog for [one of the 5 stated purposes at the link], then you may do so. But take every precaution not to have contact with its saliva, and also arrange for a separate living space.

Most Arabs do not want to be around dogs, that is true. Yes dogs are considered unclean in Islam. But if you see pariah dogs in Arab cities, it is not hard to understand why things are perceived that way. Cairo is full of half starved mangey sick dogs--you do not see as many in other Arab cities but they are definitely around.

One of the larger cities, Glascow I think, needed to shore up police recruitment so they started an ad campaign with posters showing a very young German Shepard pup inside an upside-down policeman's wheelcap. That's it.

One or two of the city councilmen, if memory serves, were Muslim and decided that this completely innocuous ad (by mainstream Western standards) was offensive and unclean. If I remember correctly, they successfully stopped the ad campaign.

When an absolutely adorable little German Shepard pup becomes the target of your ire, so much so that you spend political capital to do something about it, something is seriously wrong with your world view (again, by mainstream Western standards).

It made me very sad for my families country of original. I hope those scrappy Scots come to their senses more quickly than the rest of Europe in regards to Muslim immigration and assimilation.

Cute. The most miserable people in the world are legalistic religion captives, and Mohammed put together all the legalism possible with help from an angel in a cave and has been trying thru his captives to enslave the world with it for 1400 years. Free muslims today. And do not elect any more Muslim loving SOB's, if you want to live a free life. The antidote to religious legalism is the Muslim's public enemy # 1. That antidote is a people's simple belief in the Apostles Creed which states Christian doctrine. That creed gives people the power to love dogs and everybody else.

I don't care whether various people think dogs are unsanitary (and whether the view is rooted in religion or science or some mysterious combo). My concern here is whether bin Laden is lying to sell books to Americans.

But their own kids are taught by Farfur Mouse, a Mickey Mouse knockoff, who tells children they must pray in the mosque five times a day until there is "world leadership under Islamic leadership."

""We, tomorrow's pioneers, will restore to this nation its glory, and we will liberate Al-Aqsa, with Allah's will, and we will liberate Iraq, with Allah's will, and we will liberate the Muslim countries, invaded by murderers".

""We will destroy the chair of the despots, so they will taste the flame of death; Rafah sings 'Oh, oh.' Its answer is an AK-47. We who do not know fear, we are the predators of the forest."

At least Levi Johnston has not yet had his puppy killed by the venal Palin family. The PR game generates 99% of our news, and will continue to do so until an adversarial Reporter risks telling a little truth in public. A trial lawyer's opening Statement is PR, and it stands until the opposing lawyer states another PR story, and then the available witnesses are asked what happened. May the best story win. I do expect that Saudi Arabian billionairs have purchased all the PR experts they will ever need to use.

Ann Althouse said... I don't care whether various people think dogs are unsanitary (and whether the view is rooted in religion or science or some mysterious combo). My concern here is whether bin Laden is lying to sell books to Americans.

Well, yeah, of course. Are you telling me pops took his son's puppy to Afghanistan (when there are plenty of stray curs there to experiment on). Come on. I suspect that passage is intended to "humanize" bin Laden's son. Yeah its BS.

But come on Ann, you raise the issue of dogs being unclean and you unleash (if you will) everyone on an opinion on that subject.

And one thing that Saudi Arabians find both horrifying and facinating about Americans is we have dog cemetaries.

The way I understand it the number seven in the bible doesn't mean seven so often as it is a symbolic way of saying entirely or completely.

So when Jesus is saying how often you should forgive someone, Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven, he's scolding people who had begun to figure, hey, I forgave seven times, now I'm done. So Jesus was pointing out that that wasn't was it meant to do something seven times.

I would guess that Islamic tradition is similar, coming from more or less the same part of the world. Washing seven times would likely mean that you've done a good job (doctors are supposed to scrub more than once, too, right?) but originally it likely meant to do an utterly thorough job of it.

Anyhow... my golden retriever ate his poop when he was a puppy. Very gross! Ew!

And cats DO lick their butts.

So I'm not sure how cats are much better.

On second thought... the dog quit eating his own poop but he *still* will eat the cat poop out of the litter box. The other dogs don't so much but that one does.

Well, I didn't wake up early enough to be the first to express surprise that Mohammed OK's antibacterial soap. But since someone mentioned Hitler, I thought I'd reminisce about Monty Python's "killer joke" sketch. The allies put together a joke so deadly funny that it would cause the German troops to collapse on the battlefield, but the challenge was that no one on the allied side could learn the entire joke for fear that they would become disabled with laughter, so they had to break it up into pieces. Ultimately, you learn the joke is: "The fuhrer's dog has no nose." "How does he smell?" "Terrible!"Have a nice day.

"Kill the dog, Felix, But don't shoot him--strangle him." Very slowly Felix pulled out his rope, made a noose and wrapped it around the little animals neck--then he started tightening," writes Che.

When Felix had picked him up, the puppy's tail had been wagging happily. Naturally, as was the usual case with these men, the puppy had expected the usual petting and caresses. Now Felix grimaced as he tightened the noose on the agonized puppy. "That happy wagging of the tail turned convulsive," writes Che. "Finally the puppy let out a smothered little yelp. It seemed a long time till the end finally came," recounts Che. "Finally after one little spasm the puppy lay still, his little head resting over a branch."

ISTR, and this may be apocryphal, a Hitler Youth or SS ritual in training/indoctrination. Cadets, of whatever kind, were paired with a dog, and given a ceremonial dagger. The dog and the knife were the youth's constant companions through his training.

Before graduation, the candidate had to kill the dog with the knife.

Remember that next time you feel bad for the Demjanjuks of the world. I mean, C4, six million Jews is all in good fun, right? But the dogs, man, that's beyond the pale!

Devout Muslims are not devoid of humor. One relates on his walk to services his path was crossed by a dog that touched his garment rendering him unclean for mosque and requiring a return home, purification, and a change of clothes before he could enter the mosque. He puts his hands together in casual prayer, looks skyward, and mumbles, "Allah willing, it's a goat," then proceeded unfazed.

But really, what is it with these animals? They're grossing me out all over the place. My Belgians used to roll in the nastiest skank right in plain sight, encrusting the fur on their shoulder, then come prancing back to me as if having discovered the finest perfume. Straight to the garden hose for you, Bitch.

You've all see the elephants sticking their trunks waaaaaaaaay up their mate's bums, probing around up in there, returning with a significant morsel, then eating it. What, you haven't? It's all over the YouTubes, [elephant poop] here, let me make it easy for you. "Ai, Ma, otra vez!" Ha ha ha ha ha.

In his old age, our family cat, whenever we had a visitor or two, would sprawl in the middle of the room and start washing his privates, just to make them feel at home. He barfed at the feet of my sister's first serious boyfriend on his first visit.

First, I definitely think he's lying about the whole dog story. The article points out that he's not saying anything that isn't public knowledge about what al-Qaeda did with dogs. I think this is a pathetic attempt to say: look, my father hurt my feelings too.

His chief complaint about his father isn't that he's a mass-murdering thug, but that he didn't find enough quality "father/son" time in between blowing up Americans.

Here's the part that gets me:

"Bin Laden's fourth son admits he knew in advance of plots against targets like the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa, where 224 perished.

He called the 9/11 attacks "horrific." They occurred after he was told by his best friend - Al Qaeda operative Abu al-Haadi - that a "new mission" would be much bigger than the embassy bombings. Omar mourned al-Haadi's death in the resulting U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. "

So he knew that hundreds of Americans were going to be killed and he did nothing. He knows that 3,000 Americans died horrific deaths, and he mourns one of the guys responsible?

He's an evil piece of feces. He's no better than his father and deserves the same fate.

So he knew that hundreds of Americans were going to be killed and he did nothing. He knows that 3,000 Americans died horrific deaths, and he mourns one of the guys responsible?

But he is sad about his puppy.

I would suggest not buying his book. Or better yet, some 9/11 victims suing the publisher for the royalties (couldn't he be civilly liable for not warning?). He has no diplomatic immunity status either.

Wiki - "the son of Osama bin Laden, whose partisan activities shaped his childhood. Omar accompanied Osama on his exile to Sudan from 1991-1996, and then to Afghanistan after that. He has said that he trained in al-Qaeda camps beginning at the age of 14, but after training with al-Qaeda for six years and sharing a house with Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's second-in-command, he left al-Qaeda in 2000 because he did not want to be associated with killing civilians and his father did not object..."

It would have been asking a lot of a 17-year old raised in the life since 10 to object to a Jihad operation against an enemy(embassy bombings) in the middle of a terror training camp. ( Jim said - he did nothing. What would you suggest, Jim?)

The guy did walk away from AQ because he thought deliberately targeting civilians was wrong. That his father was motivated by a genuine desire to help Muslims, but wrong in his methods. He also objects to the brutalities and thefts of Zionist Occupation in Palestine, the lack of necessity for the Iraq War, need for more political rights in oppressed lands in the ME, Afica ...making him a rather typical 28 year old, as the world goes.

Nichevo - Remember that next time you feel bad for the Demjanjuks of the world. I mean, C4, six million Jews is all in good fun, right? But the dogs, man, that's beyond the pale!

The run of the mill POW or soldier assigned to prison or work camp guard duty in WWII was not prosecuted for any war crime. Those ordered to such duty by the Nazis or Japs.Only a select few commanders or guards that did heinous actions above and beyond what guards and commanders in any military must do for control.And POWs? Those Koreans, Poles, Baltic peoples, Ukrainians who hated the Japs and Nazis and who had been subjected to mass killings, terror and brutality in Europe before the Nazis arrived? They were subject to the will of the conquerers. Be that Nazis, Japs, or Russian/Jewish Bolsheviks. Told to guard the Gulags and camps or become inmates themselves or dead...it was for most, a no-brainer choice.

Demjanjuk appears to be a hapless captive of circumstances. Refuse guard assignment and likely die. After the war as a displaced person, seeking to get to relatives in America, saying he worked as a camp guard agaisnt his will would still mean no entry. And worse, record of it would go to the Soviets - which was killing by firing squad or gradually killing in Gulags any Soviet subject who surrendered against orders to fight to the death or cooperated in any way. The Soviets were mass-killing Soviet POWs who even didn't lift a finger to "help" - who refused any Nazi job assignment, risking death to do so.Any sane person would do what Demjanjuk did. So he came to American, was a hard-working, law-abiding standup immigrant, then citizen. Until he ran afoul of the media-loved "Nazi Hunters" 40 years later. Who wanted a live Nazi or two to justify their massive fund-raising. Demjanjuk was falsely accused of being a real baddie on mistaken identity along the lines of witnesses saying "That's the Negro who did it" to the 1st black guy presented in a police lineup to a group of witnesses who saw a masked black gunman flee a bank robbery.

Just his bad luck.

But considering the million or so E Europeans killed in vengeance by the Soviets after WWII ended, luckier than a lot of them.

I think Omar probably is aware of the Western love of dogs from his old English wife, and knows that claiming he partially broke with AQ over puppy dogs will get him additional sympathy.

But since the guy was in 2 of the most primitive and hardcore Islamoid nations since age 10, I doubt he went much against basic Muslim norms of what is haram and what is halal.

I liken him to an American or Korean. An American in France or a Korean immigrant who learn expectations of the host nations on cultural lines...

Now the Korean may have had dog on the menu in his native village, kimchi, stewed sea cucumbers but knows from experience Americans find Asians eating almost anything "exotic" - but dog-eating taboo. So he knows to deny he ever ate dog on a stick...

The American in France knows there are certain things that disgust the French about us...mostly culinary...some religious. Though many are disgusted by things that weren't true at all or are no longer true - they still believe America still allows dynamite fishing, has Negroes held captive on plantations who can't move elsewhere because they owe money.

Suffice it to say that Americans who know those lines will not admit to ever eating a pile of French fries slathered in cheese and brown gravy accompanied by corn dogs dipped in garish yellow cheap mustard and washed down with *shudder* your American Budweiser-style beer....Or tell the Froggies that Jesus created Americans, not no darn evolution...expressly to slog down such American swill.

Be like Omar. When in Rome, do as the Romans do, as they expect...While retaining some attributes of your own past and culture you know from experience will not automatically anger & disgust ...so you don't look like an inauthentic sellout.

Or tell the Froggies that Jesus created Americans, not no darn evolution...expressly to slog down such American swill.

I also like telling them that their language is merely corrupt, barbaric Latin, and that they should really learn English, which has a much larger and more expressive vocabulary as well as being far more useful in the wider world.

Jim - Any person who can recognize that killing his dog was wrong, surely recognized that blowing up innocents was wrong....Sorry. But I'm not buying off on the "he was conditioned to it" response. If that were the case, he wouldn't have recognized the horror of 9/11.

He knew it was wrong. He was silent. He deserves whatever pain comes his way and then some..

He didn't know about 9/11 and left AQ with his father's OK - because he didn't want to kill civilians to advance macro policy. Knowing what was going to happen on 9/11 was limited to a very closed group of 20 or so. Even the Saudi muscle the 14 brought in at the last minute to replace Indonesians and Malaysians KSM had slotted in - were not told. BInnie said that they were going to take the planes, land them, and hold hostages to force release of the thousands of Palestinians in captivity. He did tell them it was dangerous and any who died would be blessed martyrs. "They didn't know they were all to be unwitting, yet holy martyrs...but they were all brave noble men now with Allah in Paradise.."

Omar knew nothing specific, only that AQ was seeking "bigger and better" ops.

--------------And if you claim that anyone who claims killing dogs is wrong knows killing civilians is wrong...well, Clinton, Bush II both bombed lots of civilians. Now Obama.

Bush authorized bombing a packed with people restaurant to rubble on word that Saddam might be dining there. He wasn't. That one attack killed more civilians than a AQ embassy bombing.

Clinton bombed Serbian civilians into submission, killing more than were killed on 9/11.

And Obama, and good on him, accepts that civilians will be killed anytime a JDAM or swarm of Hellfire missiles hits a large village compound or vehicle convoy suspected of having a Taliban or AQ leader mixed into the doomed masses.---------------The attack on the WTC is what made Binnie into a war criminal. Had he stuck with just American military and leadership targets in his military attacks on the USA, it would not have risen to a "crimes against humanity" level.

That and also AQ's role before 9/11in deliberate mass slaughter of civilians in Afghanistan. Working with Taliban, AQ killed far more Haziri, Northern Alliance, and Pashtun villagers opposed to Taliban - than were killed here on 9/11. (It was AQ's role in this merciless liquidation of men, women, and children on behalf of their Taliban benefactors that led Omar to leave thinking what AQ was doing was profoundly wrong...not vague rumors of some big future attack in the West.)

"It was AQ's role in this merciless liquidation of men, women, and children on behalf of their Taliban benefactors that led Omar to leave thinking what AQ was doing was profoundly wrong...not vague rumors of some big future attack in the West.)"

And yet, even after 9/11, he mourned the loss of the guy who told him it was coming. That's not any sense of humanity. If he couldn't find it in himself to condemn the person that helped make it happen, then I can find no humanity in him either.

Maybe that's where the word dogmatic comes from...and regarding Demjanjuk, it would be nice to think that the Germans have rounded up every one of its citizens guilty of similar crimes over the years but somehow I doubt it. There's questionable public interest in putting a decrepit old man in jail when war criminals the world over walk free. One of them, Tony Blair, is being groomed for the EU Presidency. And if you want to prosecute everyone that was just following orders, better set up a penal colony on the moon. Justice is easy against the weak...

As for justice against the weak being easy, Duncan, they weren't so weak before the Allies pounded them into the dust, and the pounding wasn't so easy.

It would have been nice of you to tell Demjanjuk, if not Hitler, to go easy on the weak. If only you had been alive then! If only Hitler would have returned your calls! How much good you could have done?

But of course you are alive today, more or less, because of the weakening of the Third Reich and all its hangers-on. Is that just?

Meanwhile Tony Blair is out of power and office, therefore weak. He's in your country, why don't you lay some nice easy justice on him while we are working on people in out grasp? Or should America forces reach out and nab him instead? Would you like that?

As Winston Churchill said, "You can always take one with you." I know Englishmen now mayn't defend themselves, because yours isn't a terribly free country anymore, but if the 7/7 guys can get armed and do their dirt, surely you can burn down his house or bring a nail bomb to a meet-and-greet?

Ah, justice ain't that easy.

BTW if you think I have one iota of leniency in mind for the Nazis, I mean the Germans, you would be mistaken. They get off my shite-list on or about January 20, 2933. You may also do with the French as you please. By all means go help 'em out. Again, too bad you weren't around postwar to help mop up.

PS No penal colony required. That rather implies they would be kept alive.

Hi... A lot said on this site is true, but I feel you would want to know the points that are totally wrong. I'm Jean Sasson and I worked closely with Najwa and Omar for 15 months bringing their stories to life. WHen I was first approached in February of 2008, I didn't think I would do this book, but after getting to know Omar, I realized that he was different than I could have ever imagined. Very sensitive and kindly. After his mother came into the picture, I grew to care about her as well, as she is a dignified and honorable lady. She lived in isolation for all the time she lived with her husband, and knew very little about goings on outside of their home. But first, let me clarify the points that are not true, and are NOT in the book: Omar was a young boy when all of this was going on -- he did NOT know about the 1998 Embassy bombings, but he did notice people behaving strangely the week before. He had no idea their nervous actions signaled an attack. He heard about the Embassy bombings on the radio! He was very upset about it all.(Someone incorrectly posted that he knew about this attack on another site, and now it has a life of its own.) Omar did NOT know about 9/11. While in Afghanistan one of his father's fighters advised Omar, "Omar, you have never done anything wrong. I recommend you leave Afghanistan and do not return. Something big is in the works and you do not need to be here." Omar left but had hope in his heart that nothing would occur because Mullah Omar had told his father after the 1998 Embassy attacks to stop his attacks against other countries and to leave the country. In fact, Mullah Omar only gave Osama a few years to organize moving to another country. In fact, Omar didn't believe for years afterward that his father could have possibly been responsible for 9/11 the same as many Saudis. He was living in Saudi Arabia when it occurred. The truth is that he was never a fighter -- he hung around the camps because he had to do so-his father gave orders that his sons see what was going on. I think this book is important because these facts from Najwa and Omar will clear up a lot of questions that have been haunting a lot of us since 9/11. I know it did for me. I only hope that people realize that a son is not responsible for his father, and a woman living in isolation has no control over her husband. These two people never harmed anyone in their lives. I do thank the person in charge of this site for letting me explain some very important points. Many thanks! Jean Sasson

Hi! I'd like to clarify a few points: A lot of what I just read about Omar is false information. First of all, Omar was a child and a young teenager when he lived with his father. Secondly, I would not have agreed to write this book had Omar known about any of the violent attacks. He found out about the Africa bombings a few minutes AFTER the bombings. He had not idea about 9/11. He was only warned to leave, that he was innocent and that something big was planned. He had hopes that NOTHING would happen and thought perhaps that the man was wrong. Omar is the ONLY person surrounding Osama who was brave enough to argue against violence. But as a child, he could do nothing. Even as a teenager, he had no influence. I am telling you the FACTS. Some people are writing GOSSIP. Omar is a very quiet and kindly person -- I have come to know him very well over the past 18 months and he is no more to blame for what his father did than any of you are responsbile for anything your relatives might have done. Give him a chance. He deserves it. He has never harmed anyone in his life. He struggled to survive, that's all. As far as dogs and Muslims: Most Muslims do NOT care for dogs. Omar was a lonely child in Sudan when he took a few dogs as pets. He did NOT take any of the dogs from SUDAN with him to Afghanistan. His dogs in Afghanistan were given to him to other people and he kept them and like most children, grew to love them. For those of you who are saying Omar is telling the story to gain sympathy, you couldn't be more wrong. Omar did not even tell me about that story until I had nearly finished writing the book. Then one day when we were talking over the phone he mentioned it, and was instantly sorry. I had to plead with him to tell me the story because he still got upset after all this time. He was not keen for me to put the story of his puppies being gassed in the book -- but I'm a huge animal lover and wanted that story in because it shows how cruel the men are who follow Osama. It always showed that Omar is completely normal and open to loving puppies. As said, I'm giving you the facts. Please don't speculate about things you have no way of knowing is true or false. Jean Sasson

We can tell from the extended pleas and meaningless explanations which are written above by Jean Sasson, the author of "Growing Up Bin Laden" that she is in full controll of this book which is meant to shock the reader just like all her other made up true-life story hoax books were designed to do. In other words, Tabloid-Material with no proof whatsoever that what one reads in those book's is the truth. Omar was a mere kid when he parted from his father (if this is the truth)and watching his interviews now, he act's like a grown up kid listening to the wrong kind of people. People who are out to milk his Bin Laden Name for all it's worth. And then some. He and his mother might be surprised what is actually written in this Bin Laden book once they get to know?! I doubt we shall ever witness a full interview with Omar Bin Laden or his mother on their own without being coached and guided by Jean Sasson at their side. Just like Mayada and Joanna the heroines of her two other questionable book's. How come Jean Sasson defends and praise Omar over the moon as if she was his own birth-mother? How can she say all the things she says after knowing him for a mere couple of month's? Doesn't that make one think and ask questiones?This book has not even been published and the criticism concerning the advanced propaganda put out about Omar's gassed puppies already backfired. This is just the beginning,let's wait and see where and how this story will ends.